Wednesday, March 27, 2013

Spy Wednesday

New scientific claim that the Shroud of Turin’s not medieval. The Shroud’s not doctrine; the principle of relics and their veneration is. I’ve long thought it is at least a medieval miracle, because it’s technically too advanced to be a hoax from the time. At most, proof of the Incarnation, a photo negative of God.

Watching the Pope-watchers: why the Modernists and other foes of the church love Francis being low-church. They don’t really love humility. They hate the Pope not for his power, like they claim to, but for being Catholic. He can’t make the changes they want (turn the church into a mainline denomination so it’s not a threat) but they seem not to know that; they want him to have more power than he has. They think Francis is a pushover or dupe. Shrug. Because he really doesn’t have much power. Again let’s hope he stays distant so he lets the traditional practice of the faith be, wherever it is.

Little parallel: new Pope, new Archbishop of Canterbury; neither that important. One is limited by the church’s doctrine, which he can’t change; the other, like his supreme governor, the monarch, only signs off on what’s voted on, either directly (synod) or indirectly (Parliament), which of course changes with public opinion. Neither can make changes himself. The church: traditional practice > person of the Pope. Cantuar’s a nobody outside the little circle of liberal high church; most English don’t go to church. (The church in England = immigrant Polish.)

More on the ’50s being more just; do your own thing = every man for himself. Incomes for the bottom 90 percent of Americans only grew by $59 on average between 1966 and 2011 (when you adjust those incomes for inflation), according to an analysis by Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist David Cay Johnston for Tax Analysts. During the same period, the average income for the top 10 percent of Americans rose by $116,071. You had a Christian culture in common; real solidarity. Again, people culturally like me did the dog work to try to correct racial injustice, not the slumming kids being hippies.

Co-op. I’m not saying this is the answer but something to think about. ...the United States, where CEOs now make 380 times more than the average worker. Not so in ’66.

Shorthand for Catholic Social Teaching™ (not doctrine): socially right, economically left, well-meant but it doesn’t work because economics is science. (Communism fell because it flouted economics; implicitly in practice backed by our nukes, peace through strength, Eastern Europe eventually rebelled.)

Transgender-rights bill in Canuckistan. Golden-rule libertarianism: don’t harm anyone. Live and let live (don’t make fun); it’s their business. But where do their rights end and ours begin? Such as not to be forced to go along with someone’s play-acting, such as women not having to share a bathroom, etc., with someone who’s really a man? (And could be a straight transvestite for all you know.) By the way, that neologism’s apt; there are no transsexuals. One of RR’s faults is, because it’s left-libertarian, it automatically sides with the left on these matters as strides for individual rights.

The SpaceX private cargo craft. The market future of space travel? Sure, if it’s profitable, unlike spendthrift government propaganda. That said, the other ’60s, people like me but they knew math, put a man on the moon.

The Iraq war 10 years later. Of course the media lied. Iraqis died needlessly, we gave victory to Iran, the alleged bad guys 30+ years ago (revenge for our overthrowing their government and installing the Shah), and now we pay twice as much for gas. Iraq, then a secular government, had nothing to do with 9/11; that was because of our meddling elsewhere in the Mideast. (The hijackers were Saudis.) Revenge.

Other than Obama’s culture war on the church (a WASPy SWPL prez hates the church; historically unsurprising; the Rockefeller Republicans running things don’t like us any better), the only difference between Obama’s administration and Bush the Younger’s is, as Takimag says, Obama seems to like insurance companies a lot.

2 comments:

Even if demonstrated to be from the 1st Century, I see no scientific way to say it is the Shroud of the Lord Jesus Christ. The most that one can say is that it is some man's shroud from that period. We are never going to find scientific proof for the Resurrection. It still comes down to faith and faith does not have to depend upon a relic, even one so intriguing and marvelous as the Shroud of Turin.

Rand's not his dad, but ask yourself this- if he were just some Kentucky Senator with a last name other than "Paul", what would we think of him then? He'd seem like one of the best Republican Senators in a long, long time, flaws and all. Antiwar.com and that crowd are right to be suspicious- the Old Right has a long history with putting its faith in politicians who turn out to be major disappointments (Pres. Reagan being the biggest example)- but as it stands right now, I'm cautiously inclined to believe that Sen. Paul is basically trying to couch anti-interventionist arguments in language that the typically Jacksonian voters of his state can understand and internalize- it's the same kind of language that Pat Buchanan (great-grandson of a Scots-Irish Confederate veteran, as Jacksonian as they come) uses in arguing for a less grandiose foreign policy. The Hagel vote was a big indicator for me- he hooted and hollered and did all of the same aggressive questioning that most of the Republicans did to Hagel during his hearings, but when the time came for the final vote, he decided to confirm. Keep a careful eye on him for interventionist backsliding and hold his feet to the fire, sure, but as it stands now, I'd say he's more a friend than a foe.